Thursday, January 6, 2011

Today’s way to learn chess! The ChessBase Tutorials are a new series in the publishing program of ChessBase. Every issue will consist of a DVD and a detailed accompanying booklet. The many readers of ChessBase Magazine have already come to appreciate this concept. The accompanying booklet offers both a survey and rapid starting point for the study of the individual opening variations. And then you will find on the DVD the extensive video lectures delivered by various top class trainers and grandmasters.

Every game starts with an opening – and sometimes that is even as far as it gets. That doesn’t have to be the case. With ChessBase Tutorials you do not need to spend a lot of time getting up to speed. “Openings # 01:

The open games (1.e4 e5)” is the first instalment in a series of five volumes about the fundamentals of chess openings. In it, experienced tournament players and experts in the individual openings tell you what you absolutely have to know in each specific area, which basic plans require to be followed, how to execute them and what traps have to be borne in mind. In 24 video lectures Adrian Mikhalchichin, Lawrence Trent, Lars Schandorff and Valeri Lilov show you what you really need to know about the King’s Gambit, the Vienna Game, the Giuoco Piano, the Evans Gambit, the Two Knights Game, the Scotch, the Steinitz and Berlin Defences, the Open Ruy Lopez or the Exchange Variation, the Marshall, the Philidor and the Petroff Defences and many others.

System requirements: PC with Windows XP (SP3), Vista or Windows 7, Windows Media Player and DVD-Drive.

The Fritztrainer series, in which grandmasters or chess trainers explain the game of chess with the help of the Chessmedia system developed by ChessBase, was, when introduced, a totally new and revolutionary step in the teaching of chess. Suddenly, any chess lover could bring his personal trainer home and have the latter explain to him via his own computer how certain openings are played, how to discover the correct middlegame strategy to use or how to win his endgames.

The new idea for ChessBase Tutorials came about based on the new format of ChessBase Magazine. ChessBase Magazine has always been a publication which consisted of a medium for data (previously a diskette, then a CD, and now for some it has been a DVD) and an accompanying brochure. In 2006 we modernised the concept of the magazine-DVD and concentrated on making it useful for training. The magazine’s booklet was extended in 2009 and from then on it has been, just like the DVD, bi-lingual and published in the “twist and turn” format. According to which way up you are holding the booklet, you can be reading either the English or the German text.

Our new, compact and improved magazine (both in content and presentation) was so well received by chess fans that we now want to offer you in our new series of ChessBase Tutorials some special themes in the same format.

One of the first comments on the new ChessBase Tutorial we received:

"I just received the first issue of "ChessBase Tutorials Openings #01," a new chess magazine put out by Chessbase for the chess novice, and all I have to say is "wow!" It has a beautiful slick green cover, professional graphics and layout, and a plastic pouch that contains an Openings DVD by several top Chessbase presenters on all the popular 1.e4 Openings. This includes 5 hours of coverage (24 videos) on: The Kings Gambit, Vienna Game, Bishop's Opening, Italian Game, Evans Gambit, Four Knights, Scotch, Ruy Lopez, etc... by top Chessbase trainers GM Mikhalchishin, IM Trent, GM Schandorff and FM Lilov.

At the risk of sounding like my grandparents, trust me kids when I tell you that 20 years ago, in 1990, when I was learning this wonderful game of chess, we had no such magazine or DVD. Note that the magazine is extremely basic (although I guess it's not that basic, seeing how I learned from it that Karpov played the Italian Opening against Korchnoi in 1981 in a World Championship game!), which makes it perfect for those new to chess. The DVD is more advanced, as it goes into much more detail about each of the openings. Highly recommended to those who don't yet have a good understanding of the main 1.e4 Openings, but would like an easy and enjoyable way to learn them." -Michael Jeffreys

Another comment sent to us by a customer:

For the "average" club player, these DVD's provide an excellent overview for any club player who is a career oriented person who does not have the time to study opening variations. If you know the basics, these first two volumes provide excellent reviews of the major themes, ideas, and variations - this is excellent, though brief, review material - essential for the person who hopes to improve but who simply cannot afford to spend time on attempting to acquire an in-depth knowledge of subtle theoretical variations.

There is enough material in these volumes so that if you understand opening theory, you can refresh ideas and attempt to steer clear of variations that are very complicated, allowing you to obtain a "comfortable" position. After reviewing these relatively short DVDs, you should have enough knowledge to find your way when playing openings that are not your favorites or "cup of tea." In addition, these DVDs refer you to relevant games, data bases, and other Chessbase DVDs to enhance and develop your knowledge. These materials offer substantial information - I own many of these discs - each and every one is a well done "book" on a CD disc.

In short, these first two volumes proide an excellent review of the major openings - I have every intention of purchasing the next 3 DVD installments and I expect a similar reaction. The presenters are superb - clear in their thinking and presentation, very logical in presenting ideas, telling you how to avoid unfavorable positions - granted, not presenting a full examination of every opening theory, but giving you enough information to survive by making good decisions in over-the-board play. I must compliment Cherssbase for this excellent series which addresses the needs of the chessplayer I have described.

This endorsement should not be taken as a "shortcut" to avoid study through books and the purchase of other Chessbase material which are essentially books and exercises on DVD. These materials are also essential. However, the point here is that the Chessbase team has discovered a methodology of presenting material to help players significantly improve their game - from opening, to middlegame, to tactics, to endgame - I might add, I have nothing but accolades to add to the Mueller Endgame series. Absolutely superb.

I only wish I could retire to have the time to study and apply this information to improve to the fullest. Time for a professional person who dabbles in chess is a major issue - but, I fully believe that the material offerred through Chessbase, combined with study and both computer and across-the-board chess-play, can easily lead to very satisfying levels of improvement for any chessplayer.

And we are starting with a five volume set on the chess openings with the series title “ChessBase Tutorials Openings”. The area covered by the openings has been divided up according to the classical schema.

# 01 – Open games

# 02 – Semi-open games

# 03 - Queen’s pawn games

# 04 - Indian openings

# 05 - Flank openings

One volume of the ChessBase Tutorials will be devoted to each of these areas.

The first volume in the ChessBase Tutorials: Openings # 01 Open games is now available. The second volume, on the semi-open games, will also follow in the course of this year. In volume one a total of eight different authors, four in German and four in English, introduce all the important openings which are classified as open games and provide you with a compact but very informative overview. The task which was set for the authors was to outline in a competent manner their chosen opening in approximately 15 minutes. Anyone who has already done intensive work on the opening knows how easy it is to introduce an opening or a variation in, for example, two hours. However, dealing with the most important information in a mere 15 minutes or so was an enormously difficult challenge, but one which all our authors were well up to.

The goal of the Openings Tutorials, at least in this initial overview series of all the opening complexes, is to convey to the normal club player a maximum of knowledge in a pre-set stretch of time. Due to this very restricted time period, the authors were obliged to concentrate on the essentials. If you view one of these clips, you will be aware after 15 minutes of all that you need to know to make a start in that opening and you will be able to play it without nasty surprises. There is also no need to overload yourself with variations which you will probably never have to face at that depth at normal club level.

To reach this result, many of the authors were occasionally obliged to do some “overtime” and record the clips several times, until finally the desired result had been achieved. But you will hardly be able to notice this. To have the King’s Gambit, the Marshall Attack, the Scotch Game, the Ruy Lopez Exchange Variation and all the other openings under the heading “Open games” explained to you by, as it were, your own “personal trainer” like Jan Gustafsson (several times runner-up in the German championship, member of the national team, national trainer for Denmark), Niclas Huschenbeth (reigning German champion), Dr Karsten Müller (grandmaster and top level trainer) and Elisabeth Pähtz (twice world youth champion) or in English by Lars Schandorff (Danish champion 1988, member of the Danish national team), Valeri Lilov (Bulgarian chess trainer), Adrian Mikhalchishin (reckoned to be one of the best chess trainers in the world) or Lawrence Trent (IM and participant in the youth world championships) is not only effective, but is frequently also purely and simply a delight.

The ChessBase Tutorial also has its booklet. It contains twice 28 pages and in its description of all the openings which are treated in this volume, it supplements the video clips. In its layout, the booklet is strongly reminiscent of the recent booklets which accompany ChessBase Magazine and is just as lavishly conceived. If you are looking at a new opening, then in the booklet you will learn a lot about its history, variations and characteristics.

And in conclusion, it would be wrong not to mention the database with its 100 sample games. In these important games from the history of chess tournaments, you will see the openings which are being presented being used as weapons by world class players.

ChessBase Tutorials come with a ChessBase reader program and can thus be used immediately without the need for any other program. If you already own an up-to-date version of ChessBase or Fritz, you can also use it to work with the Tutorial. Price 29.90 Euro.

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